Then you must not have seen Rocky 5. It was just an awful mess and an insult to the franchise. 28% on the Tomato Meter, and I think that's being kind....
I don't get how anyone who liked the first three Rocky movies would not enjoy this one. It is very good. Stout, you will like this movie. I promise you will.
The Rocky films are more than just movies to me. They are part of my childhood. They each have their special place. I've seen the 2nd half of #4 at least 100 times.
I was so excited when I got to watch Rocky Balboa with my boys (10 & 6 at the time). Growing up I never imagined that I would get to watch a Rocky movie for the first time with a child.
Then my daughter was born in 2007. We recently watched all the Rocky films and she became a huge fan. It's truly amazing that we were able to watch this film together. I'll be honest, I was pretty emotional during this film. There must have been some bad dust in the theater because my eyes were draining.
The scenes paying homage to Rocky were perfect. Rocky fans will love the chicken chasing training, the "women weaken legs" saying, rocky "cooking" eggs (did you catch that cheesebeef?), Rocky talking about doing one-handed pushups in his day, etc. There were a lot, but they fit nicely into the script.
That's a pretty strong sense of humility. He's written every single line Rocky's ever said. To hand the keys of the kingdom over to someone else is pretty impressive (even though I'm sure he had a ton of say over his own lines).
I felt like I was watching a story written just like 1&2. Ryan Coogler's writing was perfect. I can't wait to watch this again. Every scene was written just how I would have chosen it to be.
Anyone who loves Rocky and doesn't see this is a complete and utter moron.
I'm the biggest Rocky fan I know. He was my hero as a little kid to the point that I used to go to school dressed up as him
And sign my name Rocky Shapiro. But I know the movies after the 2nd one became comic book movies going completely overboard with the ridiculous, but entertaining Rocky IV: The Montage (and the less said the better about V and VI was okay), but this is a really, really great way to move forward in the series.
Great performances, story and continuation of the saga of my biggest silver screen hero.
best part of this movie was how Stallone did a fantastic job of underplaying Rocky. THIS felt like the extension of the character everyone fell in love with in Rocky and Rocky 2 before he became the superhero he was in all of the other movies. Even in the "back to basics" Rocky Balboa, he was pretty over the top, IMO. Great speeches in that movie, but no one in it felt like a real person.
Now, the mechanics of the plot here can be quibbled with to be sure (just the same as the original), but the characters can't be. They're all pretty fleshed out and believable and that's what moves the story.
I was super impressed by the writing of Addonis backstory too. The easy thing would have been to just have had Apollo's wife be pregnant when Apollo died (totally plausible) but instead they chose the more complicated backstory of the bastard child of an affair, orphaned and the fact that it took Apollo's wife a few years to come to terms with it but she eventually couldn't let him suffer in the system so she took him in. I just thought that was good writing. They could have taken the 'easy way out' but they went with something more real. I liked it.
I also liked Rocky's character, like Cheese said back to basic Rocky and you have this old boxer, living in the past, haunted by ghosts. I thought they did a good job.
I dont get why people are so hung up on the timeline. Of all of the kids ages in the Rocky films, this is like, the only one that actually makes sense! lol Kid was born in 85/86 when Rocky 4 took place, he's 30 now. Michael B Jordan is 28. It's really not a reach at all.
Just saw it. Awesome! I have to say the cinematography needs an Oscar nod. They have a guy with a steady cam in the ring during the fight, circling some of the rounds in what appears to be a single take. Wow.
Just saw this again. Coogler's version of continuing the Rocky saga did for me what JJ's version of continuing the Star Wars saga did for most of you guys. He just nailed the movie... in every way shape or form.
saw this yesterday....then again last night when the ol'lady got home.
I don't know about y'all fellas,...but when Adonis opened that box and pulled out his daddy's trunks...I cried like a teenage girl watching twilight
what hit me the hardest was the line in the ring...Rocky wanted to call the fight but Adonis still had something to prove..."that I am not a mistake"...damn...that was hard hitting and right to the core of the character
all through the movie you could see the guy using Rocky as a link to Apollo..that character was so well done...I especially liked how when he was shadow boxing to the old rocky/creed fight....he was playing Rocky and beating on his dad....it was a glimpse of the inner turmoil the guy grew up with.
I wasn't really a fan of the camera in the ring filming style...but watching it a second time it was easier...it had more a look of the Friday night fights rather than a movie
I was so pleasantly shocked at just how much I loved this. That said, I wish they wouldn't make a sequel. The end of this felt like a perfect end to the rocky saga. But you know there will be more.
saw this yesterday....then again last night when the ol'lady got home.
I don't know about y'all fellas,...but when Adonis opened that box and pulled out his daddy's trunks...I cried like a teenage girl watching twilight
what hit me the hardest was the line in the ring...Rocky wanted to call the fight but Adonis still had something to prove..."that I am not a mistake"...damn...that was hard hitting and right to the core of the character
all through the movie you could see the guy using Rocky as a link to Apollo..that character was so well done...I especially liked how when he was shadow boxing to the old rocky/creed fight....he was playing Rocky and beating on his dad....it was a glimpse of the inner turmoil the guy grew up with.
I wasn't really a fan of the camera in the ring filming style...but watching it a second time it was easier...it had more a look of the Friday night fights rather than a movie
